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What this site is

This Resource Center provides organized, citation backed explanations of how United States law applies to cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Coverage is organized around two Foundations (1) Digital Asset Regulation, which sets out the regulatory architecture and the agencies that administer it, and (2) Crypto Fraud & Asset Recovery, which addresses how digital asset fraud is investigated, prosecuted, and recovered from. Beneath the Foundations sit focused Topic Resources, each examining a single subject in depth, either a particular form of fraud, or a particular legal mechanism.

The intended audience is mixed. Practicing attorneys handling a digital asset matter outside their usual subject area may use the Foundations as a starting point for research. People who have lost cryptocurrency to fraud may use the site to understand the recovery framework before consulting counsel. Businesses and individuals operating with digital assets may use it to understand the regulatory framework that governs their conduct, and compliance professionals may use it as a quick reference.

The site is not a substitute for legal advice. It is a reference, not a representation engagement. The Contact page describes how to reach the firm about a specific matter.

Editorial approach

Every substantive claim on this site is anchored to a primary source. Where the law is statutory, the citation is to the United States Code or the relevant public act. Where the law is regulatory, the citation is to the Code of Federal Regulations or the rules of the agency that administers it — the SEC, the CFTC, FinCEN, the IRS. Where an interpretation comes from an agency release, order, notice, or guidance document, that source is cited and dated. Where the law is judicial, the citation is to the case as reported.

The site avoids secondary characterizations dressed as authority. It does not summarize a case from a treatise or a news article and present the summary as the law. Where a doctrine is contested or a classification is unsettled, the disagreement is stated. Where a court, an agency, or Congress has recently changed the law, the change is noted with its date.

Digital asset law moves quickly. Content is reviewed and updated as significant developments warrant, and material changes are reflected on the affected page. Because the law evolves and individual matters turn on their facts, readers should verify the current state of the law, or consult counsel, before relying on any specific statement here.

Editorial standards

Primary sources only. No marketing content disguised as analysis. No undisclosed sponsored placements. No content published without subject matter review. Corrections are issued promptly when an error is identified; reader corrections are welcomed through the channels on the Contact page.

G. Dowd Law LLC

G. Dowd Law LLC is a Chicago law firm. Its digital asset and cryptocurrency practice covers customer claims against failed and distressed exchanges, fraud and asset recovery, SEC and CFTC enforcement matters, token and DAO structuring questions, and the cryptocurrency issues that arise in the family law context. The firm represents both individuals, including people who have lost digital assets to fraud, and businesses and institutions, and it accepts expert witness engagements in digital asset and financial markets disputes.

This Resource Center is maintained as a service to the public and to the digital asset community. It is not a marketing vehicle: there are no calls to action embedded in the substantive content, no claims of past results, and no promises about future outcomes. The firm maintains a companion public reference on financial markets law at financialmarkets.law, and its general information page is at gdowd.law.

About George Dowd

George Dowd is the founder of G. Dowd Law LLC and the editor of this Resource Center. Digital assets are the firm’s deepest practice, and the work rests on a longer career inside the financial markets.

Before practicing law, George Dowd spent more than twenty-five years working directly in the financial markets — foreign exchange, financial and commodity futures, and the metals markets — including senior foreign exchange roles at Société Générale, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Credit Suisse. That period is the foundation of the firm’s digital asset work: the questions that arise when a cryptocurrency is treated as a security or a commodity, when an exchange fails, or when a market is manipulated are, at bottom, financial markets questions, and they are answered more sharply by someone who has worked inside those markets than by someone reading about them from the outside.

He earned his B.A. in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross and his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law, and is admitted to practice in Illinois. In the digital asset field, he is the primary author of the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education treatise Digital Assets, Cryptocurrencies, and Blockchain, served on the Board of Directors of the Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association, and writes and speaks regularly on digital asset law, including an article on the GENIUS Act in the National Law Review and conference presentations on decentralized autonomous organizations and decentralized exchanges. He is also regularly retained as an expert witness in financial markets disputes, with testimony before the National Futures Association, FINRA, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the Federal Court of Australia.

• Founder, G. Dowd Law LLC; admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois.
• Primary author of the IICLE treatise Digital Assets, Cryptocurrencies, and Blockchain.
• Board of Directors, Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association (2020–2021).
• More than twenty-five years of direct financial markets experience — foreign exchange, futures, and metals — prior to the practice of law.
• Expert witness in proceedings before the National Futures Association, FINRA, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the Federal Court of Australia.
• Member, American Bar Association Cyber & Technology Law: Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Committee.
• Publishes and speaks on digital asset law, including an article on the GENIUS Act in the National Law Review.

The firm’s full biographical and credentials page is at gdowd.law/about.

Important limitations

This Resource Center is informational. Nothing on this site constitutes legal advice. Reading the site does not create an attorney-client relationship with G. Dowd Law LLC or with George Dowd. The site is not directed to, and may not be relied upon by, any person in any jurisdiction where its publication or distribution would be contrary to applicable law.

George Dowd is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois only. Matters that involve the laws of other jurisdictions are handled through association with co-counsel licensed in those jurisdictions, or through other arrangements appropriate to the matter. Engagement of the firm is subject to conflict and intake review, and is established only by a written engagement letter signed by both the client and the firm.

Attorney advertising notice

The Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct require G. Dowd Law LLC to disclose that this website is an attorney advertisement. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The full attorney advertising disclaimer appears at the foot of every page on this site.

How to get in touch

To reach G. Dowd Law LLC about a specific matter, see the Contact page for direct email, phone, and consultation scheduling. The same channels are open for comments on the Resource Center itself — corrections, missing topics, or errors of citation.